Saint-Nicolas-de-Port
Saint-Nicolas-de-Port is a commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle département in north-eastern France.
The town's basilica, Saint Nicolas is a pilgrimage site, supposedly holding relics of Saint Nicholas brought from Italy. It is one of France's Monuments historiques, and a minor basilica since 1950.
The town's inhabitants are known as Portois. In the past, the Portois were known as loudmouths; their neighbours across the Meurthe at Varangéville liked to gather on the opposite river bank to bombard them with a chorus indicating a wish to defecate in their mouths:
which in the local Lorrain dialect means:
St Nicholas-de-Port is also known for fossil remains of very early ancestral mammals.
